مشارکت عمومی برای پایداری و یادگیری اجتماعی: مفاهیم و درس های از سه مطالعه در اروپا

Shaping change such that it avoids losing potentially useful options for future development is a challenging task in the face of complex, coevolving socio-ecological systems. Sustainability appraisal methods, which open up dialogue and options before closing down and making suggestions, pay attention to the inclusion of various and conflicting points of view and address uncertainty, are increasingly used in the science, environment and energy policy domains. The quality of the process is seen as key to high quality appraisal outcomes. Dimensions of quality include learning opportunities which are seen as ways for addressing complexity and uncertainty. Participatory sustainability appraisal methods intend to support social learning among participants. Despite high expectations, social learning processes in sustainability appraisals are poorly conceptualized and empirically understudied. This paper (1) briefly reviews theories of social learning; (2) develops a conceptual framework for the analysis; and (3) presents an empirical application of the framework by use of data obtained from three energy and natural resource management case studies around Europe.

Mounting knowledge of what influences the changes of nature and societies has brought us the insight that in the end we will not know everything. We have to learn to live in a complex world with high uncertainties and an unclear future. How to make ‘good’ decisions under these circumstances? This is a key challenge for resource managers and policy makers. Advances in our understanding of how natural and social systems interact along spatial and temporal scales need to be substantiated by democratic mechanisms which can deal with inherent problems of continuous change, uncertainty and multiple legitimate perspectives of the systems. In environmental decision making therefore the focus has shifted away from the outcome to the process and from pure expert judgement to using society as extended peer community (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1990 and O'Connor et al., 1996). When facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes are high and decisions urgent, scientists can provide useful input only by interacting with the rest of society (Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1990, Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1994, Funtowicz and Ravetz, 1999, Kasemir et al., 2003 and Gimarães-Pereira et al., 2006). Making decisions about complex socio-ecological issues is then a process, where the actors involved are continuously learning from each other and where social learning becomes a key governance process (Board on Sustainable Development, National Research Council, 1999 and Parson and Clark, 1995Social Learning Group, 2001, Folke et al., 2005 and Pahl-Wostl et al., 2007b).

The expected and assumed social learning in public participation and adaptive management has recently received much attention. However, detailed analyses of the array of potential learning processes and their outcomes are still missing. While there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of social learning, more systematic evaluations are needed to understand the social learning processes and to improve workshop designs to foster social learning. Drawing on own data from three case studies, we find that social learning does happen in participatory workshops, but (1) to a lesser extent than expected and (2) the depth and breadth of learning depends on the workshop design, time given to the process and the type of participants.